Reema Lamba acquired the screen name of Mallika Sherawat, meaning 'empress', mainly to avoid confusion with other actresses named as Reema. She is famous for her roles in Murder, Hisss and Myth

Mallika was born in Rohtak, Haryana to a Jat family. Her father Mukesh Lamba was a retired senior engineer at the Irrigation department of Haryana government. She has a younger brother named Vikram Singh Lamba.

Sherawat did her schooling from Delhi Public School. She has acquired a degree in Philosophy from Miranda House, Delhi University. Soon after her college, she got married to Jet Airways pilot Captain Karan Singh Gill. The couple later got divorced.